The Thing About Today – September 12

September 12, 2020September 10, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

September 12, 2020
Day 256 of 366

September 12th is the 256th day of the year. It is Saragarhi Day in the Sikh community, commemorating the Battle of Saragarhi. It was a last-stand battle fought before the Tirah Campaign in 1897 between the British Raj and Afghan tribesmen. An estimated 24,000 Orakzai and Afridi tribesmen were seen near Gogra, at Samana Suk, and around Saragarhi, cutting off Fort Gulistan from Fort Lockhart. The Afghans attacked the outpost of Saragarhi, with thousands of them swarming the fort. The soldiers in the fort, all of whom were Sikhs, chose to fight to the death in what is considered by some military historians as one of the greatest last stands in history.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Video Games Day, National Chocolate Milkshake Day, National Day of Encouragement, National Report Medicare Fraud Day, and National Programmers Day (which is observed on the 256th day of the year).

Historical items of note:

In 1848, a new constitution marked the establishment of Switzerland as a federal state.
In 1910, the premiere performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 occurred in Munich with a chorus of 852 singers and an orchestra of 171 players.
In 1914, Welsh-English soldier and actor Desmond Llewelyn was born. He portrayed Q in the James Bond film franchise.
In 1933, Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceived the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.
In 1940, Wayne McLaren was born. He was the American stuntman, rodeo performer, model, and actor who was best known for playing the Marlboro Man. He died of lung cancer in 1992.
In 1957, German composer and producer Hans Zimmer was born.
In 1958, Jack Kilby demonstrated the first working integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments.
In 1959, Bonanza premiered. It was the first regularly scheduled television program presented in color.
In 1962, United States President John F. Kennedy delivered his “We choose to go to the Moon” speech at Rice University.
In 1964, A Fistful of Dollars premiered. It was the film that started the Spaghetti Western genre and Clint Eastwood’s career.
In 1973, actor Paul Walker was born.
In 1978, actor Ben McKenzie was born.
In 1981, singer and actress Jennifer Hudson was born.
Also in 1981, The Smurfs premiered.
In 1986, singer and actress Emmy Rossum was born.
In 1992, NASA launched Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-47, marking the 50th shuttle mission. The shuttle crew included Mae Carol Jemison (the first African-American woman in space), Mamoru Mohri (the first Japanese citizen to fly in a United States spacecraft), and Mark Lee and Jan Davis (the first married couple in space).

September 12th is Defenders Day in the State of Maryland, the city of Baltimore, and Baltimore County.

The day commemorates the successful defense of the city of Baltimore spanning September 12-14, 1814, from an invading British force during the War of 1812.

It was during this conflict, the Battle of Baltimore, that Fort McHenry was shelled by the British Royal Navy’s revolutionary newly-constructed bomb and mortar ketch warships. Although the attacking fleet stayed out of the shorter range of McHenry’s artillery, the Americans refused to surrender. They inspired Maryland lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key to compose a four stanza poem entitled “The Defence of Fort McHenry”.

That poem later became “The Star-Spangled Banner” when it was set a few days later to a musical tune popular with an old English gentlemen’s society from the 18th century. It gained increasing popularity over the next 117 years, eventually becoming the national anthem of the United States in 1931.

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

The Thing About Today – September 11

September 11, 2020September 10, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

September 11, 2020
Day 255 of 366

September 11th is the 255th day of the year.

Between the years of 1900 and 2099, September 11th on the Gregorian calendar is the leap day of the Coptic and Ethiopian calendars. These leap days occur in the years immediately before leap years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and in all common years of the Coptic and Ethiopian calendars, September 11th is New Year’s Day.

It is also the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, that claimed nearly 3,000 lives and injured over 25,000 others. The attacks precipitated substantial long-term health consequences for responders and servicemembers. They also instigated the ongoing international War on Terror.

That’s all I intend to say about that.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Make Your Bed Day and National Hot Cross Bun Day.

Historical items of note:

In 9 AD, the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ended. The Roman Empire suffered the greatest defeat of its history and the Rhine was established as the border between the Empire and the so-called barbarians for the next four hundred years.
In 1297, at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Scots jointly led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray defeated the English.
In 1609, Henry Hudson discovered Manhattan Island and the indigenous people living there.
In 1776, the British-American peace conference on Staten Island failed to stop the nascent American Revolutionary War.
In 1789, Alexander Hamilton was appointed as the first United States Secretary of the Treasury.
In 1792, the Hope Diamond was stolen along with other French crown jewels when six men broke into the house where they were stored.
In 1816, German lens maker Carl Zeiss was born. He created the Optical instrument.
In 1826, Captain William Morgan, an ex-freemason, was arrested in Batavia, New York for debt. This was after declaring that he would publish The Mysteries of Free Masonry, a book against Freemasonry. This set into motion the events that led to his mysterious disappearance.
In 1857, the Mountain Meadows massacre came to a conclusion as Mormon militiamen and Paiutes murdered 120 pioneers at Mountain Meadows, Utah.
In 1940, director, producer, and screenwriter Brian De Palma was born.
In 1950, actress Amy Madigan was born.
In 1956, director, producer, and screenwriter Tony Gilroy was born.
In 1961, actress Virginia Madsen was born.
In 1970, actress Taraji P. Henson was born.
In 1972, the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system began passenger service.
In 1979, actress Ariana Richards was born.
In 1987, actor Tyler Hoechlin was born.
In 1997, NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor reached Mars.

September 11th is the National Day of Catalonia (Diada Nacional de Catalunya in Catalan), which is a day-long festival and one of its official national symbols. It commemorates the fall of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714 and the subsequent loss of Catalan institutions and laws.

The Army of Catalonia that initially fought in support of the Habsburg dynasty’s claim to the Spanish throne was finally defeated at the Siege of Barcelona by the army of the Bourbon king Philip V of Spain. This happened on September 11, 1714, after 14 months of siege, and it resulted in the loss of the Catalan constitutions and the institutional system of the Principality of Catalonia under the aegis of the Nueva Planta decrees and the establishment of absolutism.

The holiday was first celebrated on September 11, 1886. As governments have come and gone over the years, the holiday has seen fluctuations in both popularity and demonstrations, but most recently (as of 1980) the Generalitat de Catalunya, upon its restoration after the Francoist State, restored the celebration with the first law approved by the restored Parliament of Catalonia.

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

The Thing About Today – September 10

September 10, 2020September 9, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

September 10, 2020
Day 254 of 366

September 10th is the 254th day of the year. It is Gibraltar National Day, the official national day of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The day commemorates Gibraltar’s first sovereignty referendum of 1967, in which Gibraltarian voters were asked whether they wished to either pass under Spanish sovereignty or remain under British sovereignty, with institutions of self-government.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Swap Ideas Day, National TV Dinner Day, and National School Picture Day (which is typically observed on the second Thursday in September).

Historical items of note:

In 1846, Elias Howe was granted a patent for the sewing machine.
In 1858, George Mary Searle discovered the asteroid 55 Pandora.
In 1892, physicist and academic Arthur Compton was born. He won the Nobel Prize in 1927 for his discovery of the Compton effect, which demonstrated the particle nature of electromagnetic radiation. It was a sensational discovery at the time since the wave nature of light had been well-demonstrated, but the idea that light had both wave and particle properties was not easily accepted.
In 1918, famous canine actor Rin Tin Tin was born.
In 1932, the New York City Subway’s third competing subway system, the municipally-owned IND, was opened.
In 1941, paleontologist, biologist, and author Stephen Jay Gould was born.
Also in 1941, Japanese video game designer Gunpei Yokoi was born. He invented the Game Boy.
In 1958, director, producer, and screenwriter Chris Columbus was born.
Also in 1958, Irish singer-songwriter and producer Siobhan Fahey was born. She was a founding member of Bananarama.
In 1960, at the Summer Olympics in Rome, Abebe Bikila became the first sub-Saharan African to win a gold medal, winning the marathon in bare feet.
Also in 1960, actor and producer Colin Firth was born.
In 1993, The X-Files premiered.
In 2002, Switzerland, traditionally a neutral country, became a full member of the United Nations.
In 2008, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history, was powered up in Geneva, Switzerland.

September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day, an awareness day to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides, with various activities around the world since 2003.

The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) to host World Suicide Prevention Day. According to WHO’s Mental Health Atlas released in 2014, no low-income country reported having a national suicide prevention strategy, while less than 10% of lower-middle income countries and almost a third of upper-middle and high-income countries had.

As of recent WHO releases, challenges represented by social stigma, the taboo to openly discuss suicide, and low availability of data are still to date obstacles leading to poor data quality for both suicide and suicide attempts.

Most importantly, though, if you are reading this and you need help, please don’t hesitate to reach out to suicide prevention professionals. In the United States, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day at 800-273-8255.

In other locations, please check on how to find help. The world needs you.

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

The Thing About Today – September 9

September 9, 2020September 8, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

September 9, 2020
Day 253 of 366

September 9th is the 253rd day of the year. It is Emergency Services Day (also known as 999 Day) in the United Kingdom. The annual event promotes efficiency in the UK Emergency Services, to educate the public about using the emergency services responsibly, and to promote volunteering across the emergency services in positions such as Special Constables and NHS Community Responders.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Teddy Bear Day, Care Bears Share Your Care Day, and National Wiener Schnitzel Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1543, Mary Stuart, at nine months old, was crowned “Queen of Scots” in the central Scottish town of Stirling.
In 1739, the Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in Britain’s mainland North American colonies prior to the American Revolution, erupted near Charleston, South Carolina.
In 1776, the Continental Congress officially named its union of states the United States.
In 1791, Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, was named after President George Washington.
In 1828, Russian author and playwright Leo Tolstoy was born.
In 1839, John Herschel took the first glass plate photograph.
In 1850, the Compromise of 1850 transferred a third of Texas’s claimed territory (now parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming) to federal control in return for the United States federal government assuming $10 million of Texas’s pre-annexation debt.
In 1890, Colonel Harland David Sanders was born. He was the businessman who founded Kentucky Fried Chicken, and his title is honorary as a Kentucky Colonel, the highest honor bestowed by that state.
In 1892, Amalthea, the third moon of Jupiter, was discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard.
In 1914, the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade was created. It was the first fully mechanized unit in the British Army.
In 1941, singer-songwriter and producer Otis Redding was born.
Also in 1941, computer scientist Dennis Ritchie was born. He created the C programming language.
In 1947, the first computer bug was found when a moth lodged in a relay of a Harvard Mark II computer at Harvard University.
In 1952, actress, author, and singer Angela Cartwright was born.
In 1953, Australian actress and Doctor Who actress Janet Fielding was born.
In 1954, actor Jeffrey Combs was born.
In 1959, French composer and producer Éric Serra was born.
In 1960, actor and producer Hugh Grant was born.
In 1965, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development was established.
In 1966, the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was signed into law by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson.
In 1969, the Official Languages Act came into force in Canada, making French equal to English throughout the Federal government.
In 1971, actor and guitarist Henry Thomas was born.
In 1972, Croatian-American actor Goran Višnjić was born.
In 1975, Canadian singer-songwriter and actor Michael Bublé was born.
In 2001, Band of Brothers, the Steven Spielberg-Tom Hanks miniseries based on a book by Stephen E. Ambrose, premiered. At that time, it was the most expensive miniseries ever made.
In 2015, Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom.

September 9th is Chrysanthemum Day (also known as Kiku no Sekku, 重陽, and Chōyō) in Japan.

It is also known as the Double Ninth Festival, a holiday celebrated in multiple countries on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar. It is a traditional Chinese holiday, mentioned in writing since before the Eastern Han period (before AD 25).

The origin centers on a man named Heng Jing, who believed that a monster would bring pestilence. He told his countrymen to hide on a hill while he went to defeat the monster. Later, people celebrated Heng Jing’s defeat of the monster on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.

It is called the Chong Yang Festival or Chung Yeung Festival in China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, Jungyangjeol (중양절 or 重陽節) in Korea, and Tết Trùng Cửu in Vietnam. According to the I Ching, nine is a yang number; the ninth day of the ninth lunar month (or double nine) has too much yang (a traditional Chinese spiritual concept) and is thus a potentially dangerous date.

To protect against danger, it is customary to climb a high mountain, drink chrysanthemum liquor, and wear the zhuyu (茱萸) plant. Both chrysanthemum and zhuyu are considered to have cleansing qualities and are used on other occasions to air out houses and cure illnesses.

On this holiday some Chinese also visit the graves of their ancestors to pay their respects. In Hong Kong and Macao, whole extended families head to ancestral graves to clean them and repaint inscriptions, and to lay out food offerings such as roast suckling pig and fruit, which are then eaten (after the spirits have consumed the spiritual element of the food).

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

The Thing About Today – September 8

September 8, 2020September 8, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

September 8, 2020
Day 252 of 366

September 8th is the 252nd day of the year. It is Victory Day in Malta, also known as the feast of Our Lady of Victories or il-Vittorja, which recalls the end of three historical sieges made on the Maltese archipelago. Specifically, the Great Siege of Malta by the Ottoman Empire ending in 1565, the Siege of Valletta by the French Blockade ending in 1800, and, the Siege of Malta during the Second World War by the Italian army ending in 1943.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Ampersand Day, National Ants on a Log Day (observed on the second Tuesday in September), and National Another Look Unlimited Day (observed on the day after Labor Day).

It is also National Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses Day and World Physical Therapy Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1504, Michelangelo’s David was unveiled in Piazza della Signoria in Florence.
In 1522, Victoria arrived at Seville, technically completing the Magellan-Elcano circumnavigation of the world.
In 1565, St. Augustine, Florida was founded by Spanish admiral and Florida’s first governor, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés.
In 1810, the Tonquin set sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor’s newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six-month journey around the tip of South America, the ship arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor’s men established the fur-trading town of Astoria, Oregon.
In 1841, Czech composer and academic Antonín Dvořák was born.
In 1925, actor and comedian Peter Sellers was born.
In 1930, 3M began marketing Scotch transparent tape.
In 1937, author and illustrator Archie Goodwin was born.
In 1938, American sergeant and radio host Adrian Cronauer was born.
In 1945, the division of Korea began when United States troops arrived to partition the southern part of Korea in response to Soviet troops occupying the northern part of the peninsula a month earlier.
In 1960, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA had already activated the facility on July 1st.
In 1966, the landmark American science fiction television series Star Trek premiered with its first-aired episode, “The Man Trap”.
In 1971, actor Martin Freeman was born.
In 1973, Star Trek: The Animated Series premiered.

September 8th is International Literacy Day, declared by UNESCO on October 26, 1966. It was celebrated for the first time in 1967 with the goal of highlighting the importance of literacy to individuals, communities, and societies.

Some 775 million adults lack minimum literacy skills. One in five adults is not literate and two-thirds of them are women. 60.7 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out. The ability to read would mean so much to improve their lives.

Among several other initiatives to support literacy, the UNESCO mission is supported through the Writers for Literacy Initiative by authors including Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Philippe Claudel, Paulo Coelho, Philippe Delerm, Fatou Diome, Chahdortt Djavann, Nadine Gordimer, Amitav Ghosh, Marc Levy, Alberto Manguel, Anna Moi, Scott Momaday, Toni Morrison, Érik Orsenna, Gisèle Pineau, El Tayeb Salih, Francisco Jose Sionil, Wole Soyinka, Amy Tan, Miklós Vámos, Abdourahman Waberi, Wei Wei, and Banana Yoshimoto.

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

The Thing About Today – September 7

September 7, 2020September 6, 2020 Michael Falkner1 Comment

September 7, 2020
Day 251 of 366

September 7th is the 251st day of the year. It is Independence Day in Brazil, celebrating its separation from Portugal in 1822. It is also Labor Day in the United States and Canada, which honors and recognizes the labor movements and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of their respective countries.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Beer Lover’s Day, National Neither Snow Nor Rain Day, National Grandma Moses Day, National Acorn Squash Day, National Salami Day, National Grateful Patient Day, and National New Hampshire Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1695, Henry Every perpetrated one of the most profitable pirate raids in history with the capture of the Grand Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai. In response, Emperor Aurangzeb threatened to end all English trading in India.
In 1776, according to American colonial reports, Ezra Lee made the world’s first submarine attack in the Turtle, attempting to attach a time bomb to the hull of HMS Eagle in New York Harbor. No British records of this attack exist.
In 1911, French poet Guillaume Apollinaire was arrested and put in jail on suspicion of stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum but was released a week later. The theft of the Mona Lisa was perpetrated by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian house painter who acted alone and was only caught two years later when he tried to sell the painting in Florence.
In 1914, physicist and philosopher James Van Allen was born. He was instrumental in establishing the field of magnetospheric research in space, and the Van Allen radiation belts were named after him, following his discovery using Geiger–Müller tube instruments on the 1958 satellites Explorer 1, Explorer 3, and Pioneer 3 during the International Geophysical Year. He led the scientific community in putting scientific research instruments on space satellites.
In 1923, the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) was formed.
In 1924, composer and conductor Leonard Rosenman was born.
In 1927, the first fully electronic television system was achieved by Philo Farnsworth.
In 1936, the last thylacine, a carnivorous marsupial named Benjamin, died alone in its cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. This was the inspiration for National Threatened Species Day in Australia.
In 1950, actress Julie Kavner was born.
In 1951, trumpet player and composer Mark Isham was born.
In 1954, actor Michael Emerson was born.
In 1955, Croatian-American actress Mira Furlan was born.
In 1973, director, producer, and screenwriter Alex Kurtzman was born.
In 1979, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) debuted.
In 1986, Desmond Tutu became the first black man to lead the Anglican Diocese of Cape Town.
In 1987, actress and singer Evan Rachel Wood was born.
In 1988, Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan in space, returns to Earth after nine days on the Mir space station.
In 1993, actor Taylor Gray was born.
In 1997, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor took its maiden flight.

In 1857, Mormon settlers began a series of attacks that slaughtered most members of a peaceful emigrant wagon train. It became known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre was directed toward the Baker-Fancher emigrant wagon train at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. It was a place of rest and grazing used by pack trains and drovers on the Old Spanish Trail, and later by Mormons, Forty-niners, mail riders, migrants, and teamsters on the Mormon Road on their way overland between Utah and California.

The attacks began on September 7, 1857, and culminated on September 11, 1857. They resulted in the mass slaughter of most in the emigrant party by members of the Utah Territorial Militia from the Iron County district, together with some Southern Paiute Native Americans.

The wagon train was comprised mostly of families from Arkansas. They were bound for California on a route that passed through the Utah Territory during a time of conflict later known as the Utah War. After arriving in Salt Lake City, the Baker-Fancher party made their way south, eventually stopping to rest at Mountain Meadows. While the emigrants were camped at the meadow, nearby militia leaders, including Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee, made plans to attack them.

The militia, officially called the Nauvoo Legion, was composed of Utah’s Mormon settlers. They were motivated by war hysteria about a possible invasion of apocalyptic significance. In the months prior to the massacre, Mormon leaders prepared their followers for a seven-year siege predicted by Brigham Young. Mormons were directed to stockpile grain and were prevented from selling grain to emigrants for use as cattle feed.

During the Utah War, an armed confrontation in Utah Territory between the United States Army and Mormon Settlers, far-off Mormon colonies retreated. Parowan and Cedar City became isolated and vulnerable outposts, and Brigham Young sought to enlist the help of Indian tribes in fighting the “Americans”, encouraging them to steal cattle from emigrant trains and to join Mormons in fighting the approaching army.

In August 1857, Mormon apostle George A. Smith (of Parowan) set out on a tour of southern Utah, continuing to instruct Mormons to stockpile grain. He met with many of the eventual participants in the massacre, including William H. Dame, Isaac Haight, and John D. Lee, noted that the militia was organized and ready to fight and that some of them were anxious to take vengeance for the “cruelties” that had been inflicted upon them over the existence of their religion. On his return trip to Salt Lake City, Smith camped near the Baker-Fancher party. The wagon train received a suggestion to stop and rest their cattle at Mountain Meadows, and Smith’s party started rumors that the Fanchers had poisoned a well and a dead ox in order to kill Native Americans. These rumors preceded the wagon train to Cedar City.

In a further attempt to give the impression of tribal hostilities, the militiamen armed some Southern Paiutes and persuade the Native Americans to join with a larger party of militiamen disguised as Native Americans in an attack. During the militia’s first assault, the emigrants fought back, and a five-day siege ensued. Fear eventually spread among the militia’s leaders that some emigrants had caught sight of white men and had likely discovered the identity of their attackers. As a result, militia commander William H. Dame ordered his forces to kill the emigrants.

At this point in the siege, the emigrants were running low on water and provisions and allowed some members of the militia to enter their camp under a white flag of surrender. The militia members assured the emigrants they were protected and escorted them from their hasty fortification. After walking a distance from the camp, the militiamen, with the help of auxiliary forces hiding nearby, attacked the emigrants. The perpetrators killed 120 men, women, and children, but spared seventeen children, all younger than seven.

Following the massacre, the perpetrators hastily buried the victims, ultimately leaving the bodies vulnerable to wild animals and the climate. Local families took in the surviving children, and many of the victims’ possessions were auctioned off.

Investigations, after interruption by the American Civil War, resulted in nine indictments during 1874. Of the men indicted, only John D. Lee was tried in a court of law. After two trials in the Utah Territory, Lee was convicted by a jury, sentenced to death, and executed by Utah firing squad on March 23, 1877.

While growing up in Utah, I found the massacre to be spoken of in hushed tones. Various monuments to the event had been constructed over the years, and the site was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2011 after joint efforts by descendants of those killed and the LDS Church.

In 2007, the 150th anniversary of the massacre was remembered by a ceremony held in the meadows. Approximately 400 people, including many descendants of those slain at Mountain Meadows and Elder Henry B. Eyring of the LDS Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles attended the ceremony.

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

The Thing About Today – September 6

September 6, 2020September 5, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

September 6, 2020
Day 250 of 366

September 6th is the 250th day of the year. It is Independence Day in Swaziland, commemorating their independence from the United Kingdom in 1968.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Coffee Ice Cream Day and National Read A Book Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1620, the Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England on the Mayflower to settle in North America.
In 1642, England’s Parliament banned public stage-plays. The Long Parliament ordered the closure of all London theatres, citing the current “times of humiliation” and their incompatibility with “public stage-plays”, representative of “lascivious Mirth and Levity”.
In 1803, British scientist John Dalton began using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements.
In 1870, Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming became the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally after 1807.
In 1916, the first self-service grocery store was opened in Memphis, Tennessee by Clarence Saunders. It was the Piggly Wiggly.
In 1958, actor Michael Winslow was born. He is The Man of 10,000 Sound Effects.
In 1969, The Brady Bunch premiered.
In 1972, actor Idris Elba was born.
In 2018, the Supreme Court of India decriminalized all consensual sex among adults in private, making homosexuality legal on the Indian lands.

September 6th is Unification Day (Ден на Съединението) in Bulgaria. It commemorates the unification of Eastern Rumelia and Bulgaria in 1885.

By the terms of the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, Southern Bulgaria (named Eastern Roumelia) was separated from the newly formed Bulgarian state and returned to the Ottoman Empire with partial autonomy. Bulgarian citizens considered the decisions of the Berlin Treaty to be unfair and began a peaceful demonstration against them.

The plan was to annex all territories that Bulgaria had gained after the Treaty of San Stefano but later it became clear that was impossible because of the unsuitable international situation. The Bulgarians had to leave Macedonia and the rest of Thrace and concentrate on the East Roumelian issue.

The first actions were taken in 1880, but it wasn’t until September of 1885 (after a lot of political movements) that the people rose in Goliamo Konare and advanced on the capital. Knyaz Alexander agreed to become a leader of the Unified Bulgaria and dismissed the temporary government. Diplomatic efforts failed and Bulgaria had to defend its interests on the battlefield in the Serbo-Bulgarian War where the Bulgarians were victorious.

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

The Thing About Today – September 5

September 5, 2020September 4, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

September 5, 2020
Day 249 of 366

September 5th is the 249th day of the year. It is the flag-flying day for Denmark’s deployed personnel, during which the country expresses their gratitude for Danish service members.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Cheese Pizza Day, National Be Late For Something Day, National Tailgating Day, and World Beard Day. The last two are typically observed on the first Saturday in September.

Historical items of note:

In 1661, Nicolas Fouquet, marquis de Belle-Île, vicomte de Melun et Vaux was arrested. He was Superintendent of Finances under Louis XIV, and was arrested in Nantes, France by D’Artagnan, captain of the king’s musketeers.
In 1698, in an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposed a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.
In 1774, the First Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 1914, make-up artist Stuart Freeborn was born. The “grandfather of modern make-up design”, he was responsible for the design and fabrication of Yoda in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
In 1927, the first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, was released. It was produced by Walt Disney and distributed by Universal Pictures.
In 1929, comedian and actor Bob Newhart was born.
In 1939, Australian actor George Lazenby was born. He was the second official James Bond.
In 1940, actress and singer Raquel Welch was born.
In 1942, German actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Werner Herzog was born.
In 1951, actor Michael Keaton was born.
In 1960, Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) won the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome.
In 1976, Jim Henson’s The Muppet Show premiered. Mia Farrow was the first guest star.
In 1977, NASA launched the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

September 5th is the International Day of Charity.

The observance is an international day and was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012. The prime purpose of the International Day of Charity is to raise awareness and provide a common platform for charity related activities all over the world for individuals, charitable, philanthropic, and volunteer organizations for their own purposes on the local, national, regional, and international level.

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

The Thing About Today – September 4

September 4, 2020September 3, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

September 4, 2020
Day 248 of 366

September 4th is the 248th day of the year. It is Immigrant’s Day in Argentina.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Chianti Day (the first Friday in September), National Wildlife Day, National Newspaper Carrier Day, National Macadamia Nut Day, National Lazy Mom’s Day (the first Friday in September), National Food Bank Day (the first Friday in September), and National College Colors Day (the Friday before Labor Day).

My college colors are red and white. Go Utes!

Historical items of note:

In 1781, Los Angeles was founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels) by 44 Spanish settlers.
In 1888, George Eastman registered the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film.
In 1923, the maiden flight of the USS Shenandoah, the first United States airship, occurred.
In 1928, actor Dick York was born.
In 1957, the Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel.
Also in 1957, actress, dancer, and choreographer Khandi Alexander was born.
Also in 1957, actress Patricia Tallman was born.
In 1960, actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Damon Wayans was born.
In 1968, voice actor John DiMaggio was born.
In 1972, The Price Is Right premiered on CBS. It is the longest-running game show on American television.
In 1981, singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actress Beyoncé was born.
In 1985, Buckminsterfullerene, the first fullerene molecule of carbon, was discovered.
In 1995, Xena: Warrior Princess debuted.
In 1998, Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University.

September 4th is National Newspaper Carrier Day.

It honors Barney Flaherty, the first newspaper carrier (or paperboy) hired in 1833, as well as all current newspaper carriers. Flaherty’s hiring was on September 4th, conducted by Benjamin Day, publisher of the New York Sun. It is also observed by The Armidale Express, NSW, Australia.

This is not to be confused with International Newspaper Carrier Day, an annual observance created by the Newspaper Association of America and celebrated in October.

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

The Thing About Today – September 3

September 3, 2020September 2, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

September 3, 2020
Day 247 of 366

September 3rd is the 247th day of the year. It is Independence Day in Qatar, commemorating the second independence from the United Kingdom in 1971.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Welsh Rarebit Day and U.S. Bowling League Day.

Historical items of note:

In 301, San Marino was founded by Saint Marinus. One of the smallest nations in the world, it is the world’s oldest republic still in existence.
In 1651, the Battle of Worcester was fought. It was the last significant action in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
In 1777, during the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge in the American Revolutionary War, the Flag of the United States was flown in battle for the first time.
In 1783, The American Revolutionary War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain.
In 1838, future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery.
In 1875, the first official game of polo was played in Argentina after being introduced by British ranchers.
Also in 1875, Ferdinand Porsche was born. He was the Austrian-German engineer and businessman who founded Porsche.
In 1923, cartoonist Mort Walker was born. He created Beetle Bailey.
Also in 1923, Glen Bell was born. He was the businessman who founded Taco Bell.
In 1935, Sir Malcolm Campbell reached a speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 miles per hour.
In 1943, actress Valerie Perrine was born.
In 1959, actor Merritt Butrick was born.
In 1974, actress, producer, and screenwriter Clare Kramer was born.
In 1976, the Viking 2 spacecraft landed at Utopia Planitia on Mars.
In 1981, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, an international bill of rights for women, was instituted by the United Nations.

Since this project is partially a quest to learn new things each day, I took a look at Welsh Rarebit. Also known as Welsh Rabbit, it is a traditional British dish often associated with Welsh cuisine. It consists of a savory sauce of melted cheese and various other ingredients, served hot, after being poured over slices of toasted bread. The names of the dish originate from 18th-century Britain, but the dish itself contains no rabbit meat.

I grew up with something similar consisting of gravy (sometimes with meat chunks) poured over toasted bread. We called it S.O.S., short for Shit on a Shingle.

Variants of the Welsh Rarebit may include ale, mustard, ground cayenne pepper, paprika, wine, and/or Worcestershire sauce. The sauce may also blend cheese and mustard into a Béchamel sauce.

Other variants include the Scotch Rabbit…

Toast the bread very nicely on both sides, butter it, cut a slice of cheese about as big as the bread, toast it on both sides, and lay it on the bread.

…the English rabbit…

Toast the bread brown on both sides, lay it in a plate before the fire, pour a glass of red wine over it, and let it soak the wine up. Then cut some cheese very thin and lay it very thick over the bread, put it in a tin oven before the fire, and it will be toasted and browned presently. Serve it always hot.

Alternatively, toast the bread and soak it in the wine, set it before the fire, rub butter over the bottom of a plate, lay the cheese on, pour in two or three spoonfuls of white wine, cover it with another plate, set it over a chafing-dish of hot coals for two or three minutes, then stir it till it is done and well mixed. You may stir in a little mustard; when it enough lays it on the bread, just brown it with a hot shovel.

…the Buck rarebit, also known as the Golden Buck…

It’s a Welsh Rarebit with an egg served on top.

…and the Blushing Bunny.

Welsh rarebit blended with a tomato or with tomato soup.

The first recorded reference to the dish was “Welsh rabbit” in 1725, in an English context, but the origin of the term is unknown.

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

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